• Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.77-87
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• 2012

Discussion on North Korea as UN-REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in developing countries) project target continues with a view to preventing deforestation and to securing CER(certified emission reduction) for South Korea. However, due to North Korea's political shutdown, it is hard to acquire information required for the REDD project registration. This research intends to acquire objective data using satellite images in the Mt. Geumgang. More than 20% of entire forested area were disappeared during the past two decades mainly due to conversion into agricultural farming land. Further, it is expected that persistent deforestation will go on. The reduction potential of the carbon emission is estimated as approximately 617,000 tCO2/year~663.000 tCO2/year. Thus, Mt. Geumgang is considered as realistic REDD target, which is attractive to South Korea, given that the obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emission is likely to be imposed upon the country. Further, political and social benefits due to reduced military conflict make Mt. Geumgang as UN-REDD project target invaluable.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.1083-1096
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• 2020

Global attention to the greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is increasing. There is a growing recognition of reducing emission from deforestation and forest degradation plus (REDD+) as an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the forestry sector. The Republic of Korea is implementing REDD+ pilot projects in four Southeast Asian countries as part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study evaluates countries with the potential to become priority partner countries for Korea's REDD+ programs, using the following five criteria: The first criterion is that a country should include the forest sector and REDD+ in its national plan for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The second and third criteria refer to an average forest coverage rate of over 44% and a forest change rate of over - 0.1%, among the countries with forest cover of more than 10 million ha. The fourth criterion is that the country should meet the Forest Reference Emission Level requirements, one of the four elements of the Warsaw REDD+ Framework. The fifth criterion is that the country should have bilateral relations with the Republic of Korea in forestry while at the same time be a partner country for cooperation on climate change as well as a REDD+ pilot country. Based on our evaluation, we conclude that the first priority countries are Indonesia, Cambodia, and Myanmar. The second priority countries include Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru. Finally, the third priority countries are Columbia, Congo, and Mozambique. This study suggests that for the selection of priority partner countries, Korean REDD+ programs should center on existing REDD+ pilot countries.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.563-573
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• 2019

The North Korean government conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and more recently the sixth nuclear test on September 3, 2017. In order to identify how North Korea's nuclear tests have affected the environment, a scientific approach is required. Although North Korea's nuclear tests and their environmental destruction are not a severe threat to the environment of the Korean Peninsula at this time, identifying environmental damage and taking countermeasures in advance are essential to minimize their potential threats to the environments. The purpose of this study is to study the environmental impact of North Korea's nuclear tests using Google Earth image analysis. As a method of the study, we compare Google Earth images taken before and after each nuclear test was conducted in North Korea. To overcome limitations of the suggested comparison method, we cross-checked our results with those of previous scientific research. After the 1st-3rd nuclear tests, green spaces were found to be considerably reduced. In particular, when comparing the Google Earth images before and after the second nuclear test, some ground subsidences were observed. Such subsidences can cause tunnels on the mountainsides and cracks in rocks around the mountains, leading to the release of radioactive materials and contaminating groundwater. Besides, after the 4th-6th nuclear tests, decay and deforestation were observed not in the nuclear test sites, but in their surrounding areas. Especially after the 5th and 6th nuclear tests, the topography and the forests of the surrounding areas were severely damaged. In relation to North Korea's nuclear tests and their impact on the natural environment, we need to prepare various policy measures to reduce North Korea's environmental pollution and natural environment destruction. Those policy measures include the establishment of various cooperative governance between the Korean government, the private sector, the academia, NGOs, and international organizations.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2014

UN-REDD (United Nations programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in Developing Countries) and AR-CDM (Afforestation/Reforestation-Clean Development Mechanism) is currently being emerged as one of important mechanism to reduce carbon dioxide in relation to the deforestation. Discussion on North Korea as UN-REDD/AR-CDM project target continues with a view to preventing deforestation and to securing CER(certified emission reduction) for South Korea. The forests in Mt. Baekdu are degraded, deforestation is occurred, nevertheless, portion of forested area is still high, where both REDD and AR-CDM investment potential are quite high. Accordingly, this study is intended to explore a simultaneous registration potential to UNREDD/AR-CDM for Mt. Baekdu although separate registration to UN-REDD or AR-CDM has already gained worldwide recognition as a typical method in the process of GHG (Greenhouse Gas) reduction project. The results indicate that selecting UN-REDD or AR-CDM in accordance with sub-watershed forest condition could capture 53.2% more carbon dioxide than REDD alone and 21.9% more than AR-CDM alone. It is anticipated that this research output could be used as a realistic evidence to introduce carbon sequestering project in accordance with sub-watershed forest condition.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.2
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• pp.330-344
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• 2022

While deforestation and forest degradation has continued globally, global society has been making efforts to prevent deforestation towards sustainable development. Reforestation in developing countries is linked to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as climate change mitigation, conservation of biodiversity, eradication of poverty and upholding of human rights. Forest official development assistance (ODA) restores the global forest land, and increases the public benefit. Bilateral forest ODA projects of the Republic of Korea have gradually increased and most of those projects have currently been concentrated in Asian countries. Selecting recipient countries for forest ODA requires more comprehensive approach since the global goals for sustainable development has been widely adapted to ODA strategic plans. We proposed potentially promising countries that are eligible for receiving 'Green ODA' in perspective of economic, social and environment to implement reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+), conserving biodiversity, and combating desertification. As a result, the study suggests that forestry cooperation could be expanded from Asian countries more toward South America and African countries. In addition, we emphasized the need to promote convergence and integration with green technology to fundamentally solve the negative impacts of deforestation such as food, energy, water resource shortages, and forest fires. We advocated expanding bilateral ODA in the forestry sector through diversification of project activities, financial sources, and participants. Our study can contribute to the provision of basic information for establishing long-term strategies to expand bilateral cooperation in the forestry sector.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.152-157
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• 2012

Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia that covers 37.5% of the total land area. Multitemporal satellite images of Landsat and SPOT were used to examine deforestation and forest fragmentation in Sarawak between 1990 and 2009. Supervised classification with maximum likelihood classifier was used to classify the land cover types in Sarawak. The overall accuracies of all classifications were more than 80%. Our results showed that forests were reduced at 0.62% annually during the two decades. The peat swamp forest suffered a tremendous loss of almost 50% between 1990 and 2009 especially at coastal divisions due to intensified oil palm plantation development. Fragmentation analysis revealed the loss of about 65% of the core area of intact forest during the change period. The core area of peat swamp forest had almost completely disappeared during the two decades.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.429-440
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• 1996

A global carbon cycle model (GCCM), that incorporates interaction among the terrestrial biosphere, ocean, and atmosphere, was developed to study the carbon cycling aid global carbon budget, especially due to anthropogenic $CO_2$ emission. The model that is based on C, 13C and 14C mass balance, was calibrated with the observed $CO_2$ concentration, $\delta$13C and $\Delta$14C in the atmosphere, Δ14C in the soil, and $\Delta$14C in the ocean. Also, GCCM was constrained by the literature values of oceanic carbon uptake and CO, emissions from deforestation. Inputs (forcing functions in the model) were the C, 13C and 14C as $CO_2$ emissions from fossil fuel use, and 14C injection into the stratosphere by bomb-tests. The simulated annual carbon budget of 1980s due to anthropoRenic $CO_2$ shows that the global sources were 5.43 Gt-C/yr from fossil fuel use and 0.91 Gt-C/yr from deforestation, and the sinks were 3.29 Gt-C/yr in the atmosphere, 0.90 Gt-C/yr in the terrestrial biosphere and 2.15 Gt-C/yr in the ocean. The terrestrial biosphere is currently at zero net exchange with the atmosphere, but carbon is lost cia organic carbon runoff to the ocean. The model could be utilized for a variety of studies in $CO_2$ policy and management, climate modeling, $CO_2$ impacts, and crop models.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.365-376
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• 1998

The goal of this study is to find the geomorphic variables contolling gully development on hillslopes following deforestation. Two possible geomorphic processes, surface erosion and mass movement were reviewed to compare the characteristics and geomorphic variables involved. The research objective in this paper is to find the variables and the statistical model which can explain gully density in the study area. Gully density was selected as a response variable. For log gully density, the best subset regression was found to have the variables such as area, surface length, and surface width. Log area is the most significant predictor. Even with several outliers, the normal probability plot of the residuals from this regression looks straight. So, area, surface length, and surface width explain half of the variance in gully density.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-294
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• 2017

Tropical forests constitute almost half of the global forest cover, account for 35% of the global net primary productivity and thereby have potential to contribute substantially to sequester atmospheric $CO_2$ and offset climate change impact. However, deforestation and degradation lead by unsustainable management of tropical forests contribute to the unprecedented species losses and limit ecosystem services including carbon sequestration. Sustainable forest management (SFM) in the tropics may tackle and rectify such deleterious impacts of anthropogenic disturbances and climatic changes. However, the existing dilemma on the definition of SFM and lack of understanding of how tropical forest sustainability can be achieved lead to increasing debate on whether climate change mitigation initiatives would be successful. We reviewed the available literature with a view to clarify the concept of sustainability and provide with a framework towards the sustainability of tropical forests for enhanced carbon stock and climate change mitigation. We argue that along with securing forest tenure and thereby reducing deforestation, application of reduced impact logging (RIL) and appropriate silvicultural system can enhance tropical forest carbon stock and help mitigate climate change.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 2023

This study evaluated slope stability through a case study to determine the disaster risks associated with increased deforestation in structures, including schools and apartments, located in urban areas adjacent to slopes. The slope behind the ○○ High School in Gwangju, Korea, collapsed owing to heavy rain in August 2018. Historically, rainwater drained well around the slope during the rainy season. However, during the collapse, a large amount of seepage water flowed out of the slope surface and a shallow failure occurred along the saturated soil layer. To analyze the cause of the collapse, the images of the upper area of the slope, which could not be directly identified, were captured using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A digital elevation model of the slope was constructed through image analysis, making it possible to calculate the rainfall flow direction and the area, width, and length of logging areas. The change in the instability of the slope over time owing to rainfall lasting ten days before the collapse was analyzed through numerical analysis. Imaging techniques based on the UAV images were found to be effective in analyzing ground disaster risk maps in urban areas. Furthermore, the analysis was found to predict the failure before its actual occurrence.